Avoiding discrimination: Residential accommodation and accommodation-finding services

Advice and Guidance

Who is this page for?

  • Public sector

Which countries is it relevant to?

    • England flag icon

      England

    • |
    • Scotland flag icon

      Scotland

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    • Wales flag icon

      Wales

Accommodation raises issues for all students with protected characteristics. It is an area requiring particular thought to avoid potential discrimination, by managing students’ wide-ranging needs. This includes the physical adjustments for some disabled students to provision for students with families, the specific needs of students undergoing gender reassignment and single gender halls/flats for certain religious groups.

The Equality Challenge Unit (www.ecu.ac.uk) has produced guidance on this area both on its own (Inclusive Campus: Accommodation and Social Space, Guidance) and in association with the Association for Student Residential Accommodation (Asra) and College and University Business Officers (CUBO) (Handbook for Student Accommodation Providers – Support and Guidance for Equality and Diversity).

For example:

A university ensures that there are sufficient rooms for female Muslim students on the upper floors of their residential accommodation blocks so that these students can walk around their rooms without their heads being covered. Where only ground-floor accommodation is available, the university provides window screening allowing light to enter but not people to see in.

(Adapted from a real-life example from ECU’s Inclusive Campus: Accommodation and Social Space, Guidance 2008.)

For example:

A university builds a new hall of residence with en suite rooms and wifi access, and allocates all of the rooms to male students. The other halls of residence to which female students are allocated have shared bathroom facilities and no wifi access. This would be unlawful sex discrimination. 

Last updated: 19 Feb 2019

Further information

If you think you might have been treated unfairly and want further advice, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

Phone: 0808 800 0082

You can email using the contact form on the EASS website.

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Alternatively, you can visit our advice and guidance page.